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Greg Gorman: Perusing New Possibilities
By Lynne Eodice | Cover Archives |
Mar 1, 2008
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 CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF GREG GORMAN'S IMAGES
All images © Greg Gorman
For
almost four decades, Greg Gorman has become one of the most
sought-after celebrity and advertising photographers in the Los Angeles
area. In addition to the portraiture that has become his trademark, he
loves teaching and currently offers workshops at his country home in
Mendocino, California. Not one to stand still, he is always seeking new
avenues of expression, and recent projects include photographing people
in Asia and “ordinary, extraordinary” folks across the U.S.
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Bette Midler |
Double Exposure: How did you first become interested in photography?
Greg Gorman:
I borrowed a friend’s camera in 1968 to photograph a rock concert in
Kansas City, my hometown. The next morning I processed the
pictures in a friend’s darkroom, and when I saw them coming up in the
developer, I was hooked.
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Andy Warhol |
DE: Did you take classes or were you self-taught?
GG:
I enrolled in a photojournalism course at the University of Kansas and
declared that as my major. However, I realized that my real
interest was in portraiture so I transferred to the University of
Southern California where I got a Master of Fine Arts degree in
Cinematography.
DE: Are you from the Los Angeles area originally?
GG:
No, I moved here from Kansas City in 1970 to finish my education at
USC. But I felt that too many people in cinematography had their hands
in the decision-making process, so consequently I decided to go back to
doing stills. Today ironically, still photography has gotten out of the
hands of the photographer in many ways, particularly with what I do.
There are just too many people involved in the decision-making process,
from makeup artists who use their own line of makeup to the stylist who
will only dress the talent in one kind of clothing because they’re
being sponsored by Prada, Gucci or Armani. The publicists of today also
have much more control than they used to. Basically, everything is
taken out of the photographer’s corner and the shoots become more like
a catalogue shoot than a real photo session. This has made it all less
interesting for me.
DE: How did you begin photographing celebrities? Who is your clientele?
GG:
I began doing headshots for actors for $35 a day, which included film
and processing, which I bulk loaded in my kitchen-turned-darkroom. I
was very fortunate early on in my career to get such people as Dustin
Hoffman, David Bowie, Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand as clients. For
nearly the past 40 years, I’ve spent my career shooting motion picture
and advertising campaigns. I’ve been involved more in the world of
celebrity than in fashion.
DE: What are your other favorite subjects?
GG:
Today I am focusing more on personalities outside of the film world. I
am pursuing more journalistic work in other areas that hold my
interest, such as the wine industry and travel across the U.S. and the
Far East.
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Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean |
DE: How has your work evolved over the years?
GG:
My style has started to free up a lot, moving outside of the studio
with its fixed portraiture lighting. I have been shooting more natural
light in people's respective environments. I’m known predominately for
my strong black-and-white capture and my strong highlights and harsh
shadows, as well as for my male and female nudes.
DE: What workshops are you offering currently?
GG:
I have been teaching my own personal workshops four times a year at my
country home in Mendocino, California. Basically, I bring in an Adobe
instructor, two to three models depending on the size of the class,
which I restrict to nine students. We do the gamut of the complete
workflow from capture to output. In the setting of Mendocino, we spend
three days shooting, and cover color management, Photoshop and fine-art
printmaking, coupled with food, wine and a good time.
It’s a
very hands-on workshop and isn’t restricted to a lot of generalities
like so many are. My program is tailored to the needs of each
individual. Some people come in who are weak in color management, other
people want to learn how I shoot and light a subject. Some people want
to learn how to print and to leave with the knowledge of making a great
print. I spend more time with them, focusing on whatever aspect of the
digital or photographic process they’re most concerned with. So I guess
one could say the entire experience encompasses who I am as a
photographer, as well as my personal interests.
The next
workshop in Mendocino will be held April 13–18, 2008. At this point,
there are still a couple of spaces left. I do other workshops in June,
August and September; sometimes in October.
DE: What special projects have you been working on?
GG:
I feel that going out and doing my own work and personal projects is
where I see myself at this stage in my life. Also, having been very
passionate about wine since the mid-‘70s, I find myself spending more
time up in the wine country and my home in Mendocino, which allows me
to explore different avenues.
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Tony and Rosetta |
I
have spent a good amount of time over the past two years in Southeast
Asia. When I’ve been there on assignment, I’ve spent time doing
personal work and taking pictures. My main interest is people, not
scenics or landscape. I was also invited to participate in a project
where 55 world-class photographers were brought to Bangkok to produce a
book in celebration of the King’s 80th anniversary, which is entitled,
“9 Days in the Kingdom.”
In the beginning, I felt like a fish
out of water because I’m basically known as a studio and portrait
photographer. It was interesting when I got a job to do something
different, and it was fun. A lot of the big photojournalists who were
involved with the project like Jim Nachtwey, David Alan Harvey and
Steve McCurry are all friends of mine. It was great that we were all
working on projects and had our specific subjects to cover. I was asked
to shoot kickboxing—Muay Thai and Katoey, the ‘Lady Boys’—two
interesting stories that I got to spend a week exploring and
photographing. That was a wonderful chance to do something out of the
realm of celebrity and personality photography, but still dealing with
people.
I also did a large project for Disney, photographing
ordinary and extraordinary people while traveling across the U.S., and
shooting people from every state. It was a big road trip that took
place this past summer, and the client was actually the Department of
Travel and Tourism. It was an amazing project, just traveling around
and photographing people I had never met. I had the opportunity to hear
their stories and figure out what image would best represent who they
were as individuals.
I find myself doing more personal work
that’s outside the realm of the movies, although I still pursue quite a
bit of this movie work with my friends whom I’ve worked with over the
years.
DE: What camera equipment and software are you using?
GG:
I shoot with the Canon EOS 1DS Mark III, as I find that it gives me the
spontaneity of a 35mm camera with the quality of a medium- format
capture. I work with Adobe Photoshop and Light Room and X-rite for all
my color management issues, and I output to the Epson Stylus Pro
printers utilizing Macs.
DE: Have any recent books of your work been published?
GG: The
Journal of the 21st Century recently published my seventh book, a
limited edition Monograph of 11 platinum prints, entitled “The Odes To
Pindar”.
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Oil Rig, Wyoming |
DE: I understand you’ve moved your studio location last year.
GG:
I had a studio in my home for many years. When I was working so much
and shooting every day, it became a bit much being up in the hills and
having so many people coming to the house. So I built a big studio in
L.A. and worked there since 1994. Interestingly enough, I’ve come full
circle and I’m back shooting at home. I don’t shoot every day and a lot
of my work is done on location. It’s great having everything under one
roof, and being in charge of processing and printing my own pictures.
I’m back in control of my own art and not relying on other people to
interpret my vision.
DE: Where do you see yourself going from here?
GG: Up north! (He laughs). I may ultimately get a place up in Napa.
DE: What are your future plans?
GG:
I just completed work on a book of my L.A. Eye Works ads spanning more
than 25 years of imagery. I am currently editing two other book
projects, one focusing on my journalistic imagery from Southeast Asia
and the other a retrospective portraiture book of previously
unpublished imagery. My next endeavor will be a project on
winemaking.
At this stage of my life, I’ve spent almost 40 years
photographing celebrities, and I’m anxious to peruse some other
possibilities. I also love teaching, and have doing this since the
early ‘80s. I enjoy doing my own workshops, and I do a workshop with
Mac Holbert in Anderson Ranch in Aspen once a year.
To learn more about Greg Gorman and his wine country workshops, visit www.gormanphotography.com.
CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF GREG GORMAN'S IMAGES
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Last Updated: Jul 10th, 2010 - 16:19:44
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